DEMOGRAPHY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE PEOPLE IN THE SELECTED AREAS OF CHATTOGRAM HILL TRACTS OF BANGLADESH.

The study aimed to explore the demographic and socio-economic status of the people living in the Chatt ogram Hill Tract (CHT). A cross sectional survey was conducted using a structured pre-testing questionnaire in 2000 selected households of the hill tract areas. The data were collected for the demographic and socioeconomic information about the households; living conditions: safe water, sanitation and fuel use; land ownership and operation; income, expenditure and food consumption of the hilly people. It was revealed that, an average household size was 5.14 in the CHT. The percentage of male (50.7%) and female (49.7%) populations in the study areas were almost similar. The percentage of 01-15 year old people in the family was higher and the trends decreased linearly with the increases of age. The education level of people under class fi ve was higher than all other education levels. Most of the people had their own homestead land territory, which was used for crop production. Some people were using rain water for drinking purpose without purifying practices. Most of the hilly people were living below poverty level and their mean annual income (BDT 191486.00) was lower than the average income of the people living in other parts of Bangladesh. In the CHT, the average calorie intake was 1951.5 kilocalorie/person/day. The main occupations of living for the CHT people were crop agriculture, livestock, poultry and fi sheries. It was concluded that, in addition to agriculture, livestock and poultry rearing could be encouraged to uplift the hilly livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]